'Cuse Recap, Temple Fishing

The Pain remains. In fact, in some aspects, it's actually a little worse. What I saw in the Syracuse game was a sincere effort to run between the tackles, only to have Syracuse repeatedly stack the line. At one point, PSU even decided to swap the tackles out for underclassmen. The effects were negligible.

I have no idea what's wrong here. Conspiracy theorists say we are waiting for the B10 schedule to start, and then the Lions unleash the Kraken. I say nuts to that. It's Akron and Syracuse. We should be torching these guys. Unless, of course, by "Kraken", one means "Navarro Bowman".

Then again, the rational side of me says that on every running down, Akron and Syracuse were putting 6 on the line to clog the middle. This seems more plausible, and would explain why Clarke can hit his receivers with ease. I'd like to think it's because Clark is proficient at his job.

Nevertheless, the game balls go to:

• Zug and Moye. Hands like Velcro. Gonna get Clark paid next year.
• Sean Lee. No explanation necessary.
• Jeremy Boone. Boomin' punts at 50 yds/per.

Was going to hand one out to Quarless for solid play, but then he went and did this...... Just when he shows signs of improvement, he has to remind us of why he screwed up the last 2 years of his life.

Gone Fishin'

So for the third scrimmage, these chumps come to town. They're not that good. They have this weird tendency to lose games on the last play. They are from the badlands in Philadelphia. Only one fish comes to mind:

The Flounder

Noted parallels include:

• Early in their life cycle, they look normal. As they progress, their one eye migrates, and the result is that ugly bastard above. Just like a Temple game. Starts off alright, and then, well, the above is an appropriate metaphor.
• A flounder is also known as a "Fluke". See above noted Temple game endings.
• At this point in evolution, the flounder isn't really that ferocious of a predator. Either is Temple, but they have potential.
• Are found inland. So is Temple.
• Only defense is to blend in. If they fail, they die. Have you ever been to Temple's campus? At night?
• Easy to catch. And throw a bunch of crabs on top just to see what happens. Just like Bill Cosby. End analogy.

Really, at this point, I have confidence in every facet of the PSU game, except for the above noted deficiency. If PSU can break 150 yds on the ground, I will have considered it a step in the right direction.

Temple 3

PSU 31

Moving on.....
Part of me screaming "BOISE AT FRESNO BOISE AT FRESNO". Nah, even though I don't like Boise too much. Cal at Minnesota? No, but kudos for the good OOC scheduling. Let's go for USC at Washington. Why? USC always has one bad loss per season, and it usually is on the road. They are a little dinged from OSU. So screw them.

'Cuse

If you haven't read BSD's review of the history between Syracuse and PSU, please do so (click nyaw and nyaw). I'll wait....

Truly inspiring. Syracuse really needs to attain competancy in football again. The spite born in the Harding administration must be rekindled. I cannot think of a more approprate team that we could consider to be our "rival". I would drop kick a nun just for an oppurtunity to be at the 1955 game. The Lenny Moore-Jim Brown dual must be on constant loop on cable in heaven.

And there would be more here, but the computer just ate the rest of my post.

Syracuse 13
PSU 41

PSU 31 Akron 7

Welcome back, Joe

Well, I was going to watch the game which was supposedly DVR'd, but the TV listings provided by Verizon are inaccurate at best. What I got was the Iowa game. So this recap is based on misdirection and Guinness-soaked memories from a Juno Beach bar. And being a Philly fan, it's only pertinent I begin with the negatives*.

The body has a weird way of dealing with pain. One example of the brain's gating mechanism when confronted with severe pain is displayed in the House episode "Detox". House performs necessary masochism to erase the physical side effects of Vicodin withdrawal. He does this by taking a pestle and smashing it directly into his fingers, breaking them. Thus, House's brain only registered the pain coming from his hand, and not the soul-eating sensations of withdrawal. Crude, yes, but then again, it worked, didn't it? I laughed. Now come back to last Saturday's game.

PSU was supposed to have a bunch of glaring deficiencies. I saw a few of note; the kicker was inconsistent, both TEs were poor in blocking, etc. All of these can be worked on and corrected over the next scrimmage or two. Enter the pain analogy.

Nothing seemed more out of place then the running game. There were numerous occasions where the OL was whiffing on assignments, guards were late in pulling, and so forth. And that's not to place all blame on the men with no necks; Royster was making too many moves behind the LOS, and Green just couldn't get his timing down. I understand that new OLs take time to gel, but at times the unit just looked incompetent. The line looked more than adequate in pass protection, which I always presumed to be the tougher of the two options.

Akron had one of the worst rushing defenses in all D-I last year, and I highly doubt they get their shit together in the ten months or so from their last game. In their first game of the year. On the road. Against Penn State. Alarms are going off here.

So yeah, I care not about the little problems. It's that significant pain the rushing game that has my immediate attention.

Then again, it's just the first game; how much do we really know about a team after one game? I probably am overreacting, and we all know how House feels about this.

So yeah, game balls go to:

• Darryl Clark
• Derrick Moye
• Chaz Powell
• Every DT
• Stuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper
• Devon Smith - because we all root for the little guy. It's the American way, you commie pimp.

*segue not included

Gone Fishin' (Akron)

Most other blogs are giving detailed analysis of the Zips right now. You will not get that here. Instead, please read the following:

A few years ago, I went deep-sea fishing off the shores of Juno Beach. It was addicting. Like jamming-your-head-in-a-bag-full-baldness-curing-crack addicting.

Sometimes one snags a leviathan. The rod bows to the ocean, one is jerked toward the rail. The reel squeals its alarm, and the fight is on. It can take seemingly eons of back breaking reeling, releasing, and reeling again just to bring the fish near the boat. The arms cramp, the hands are screaming just to let go. In the fit of all this mayhem, one still needs to concentrate.

It's almost euphoric the feeling of finally gaffing and landing a real fighter. When the fish is in the deck cooler, and one finally has straightened out one's digits, the world just seems lighter.

Sometimes the fish gets away. It can be due to the incompetence of others, random luck, lack of experience, or being just straight beat by a superior being. And when any of this happens, it can be a bit of a letdown. Still, there is always hope for redemption; grab some bait, re-rig the line, and cast again.

Even if I don't catch anything worth keeping, it is still just satisfying to get out there and fight with the sea creatures. Afterwords, at the Square Grouper, everyone feels like a winner. The feeling increased after every round of drinks consumed.

In some ways, the same can be said for college football.

We all know its inherent addictive powers. Regardless of who PSU plays, I think we can all agree that at the beginning of the season, we are just happy to be here. As the season starts, we all have dreams of PSU football destroying OSU at home, TCOB in Ann Arbor, or even a major bowl victory against a traditional BCS powerhouse. We pray there will be no game which ends in "the one that got away" due to our own incompetence, said random luck, or being just plain outplayed. Every week, the anticipation of The Game leads up to relative milliseconds of sheer havoc, terror, bliss, and hopefully triumph.

At the end of the day, we all end up at the Grouper. And while we're at it, we may even have a tale or two to spin about how we won against that trophy fish.

And it's now within our grasp. It's 6 AM on Saturday. We've got our gear. We've got sandwiches, beer, and are walking down the dock. Our tickets are punched, our spots on deck are assured, and I spy calm seas. Now lower that fucking gangplank and let us aboard.

AKRON

So this is PSU's first game of the year. It's not a bad choice given the cupcake pool. The best comparison I can draw between Akron and fishing is the Atlantic Bonito:

Usually the first animal to strike my line in the morning. They hit hard, and tendencies include running aimlessly all over creation. Also, they can be relatively difficult to land in the beginning. Usually they quit fighting after about 5-10 minutes. Hopefully, just like Akron.

They are an impressive fish to look at. However, it's oily, dark meat is unpalatable (the Cubans love'em though). Upon looking at the last sentence, it appears there might be some non-hetero racism there. Nope, this paragraph is not part of the analogy. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Uses include carving up for bait, and for tourists seeking a sense of accomplishment.

Still, they are fun to catch and promptly smack over the head with a paddle. and I'm sure the football players agree.

Expectations

Realistically, I am just looking at this game to see how apparent our team shortcomings are. This includes:

• Will the secondary hold up against a semblance of a passing game?
• Will the DL be strong or weak?
• Will there be any chemistry between Clark and the green WR corps?
• Will Josh Hull show improvement from last year?

As you can see, my concerns really lie within the defense. Which is weird, being that THIS IS LBU. Still, graduation, transfers, and injuries IMO have greatly depleted the defense.

Really, I just want to see competency on both sides of the ball, and no injuries.

Akron: 10

PSU: 40

One More Thing...

This one's a no-brainer: Nevada vs (23) Notre Dame. Reasons:

1. Fuck Notre Dame.
2. Fuck Jimmah Clausen. I hope he gets the Feline Aids.
3. One would think the majority of their fan base would have some kind of humility after this past decade of failure. Nope. Fuck them, and the world grows stronger at Chuck Weis crying into his fat tits.

No, really, this week's award is presented just based on my spiteful and inane bias. Hell, nobody really knows how teams are shaping up until 5 weeks or so into the schedule anyway.

Final Notes

A tip of the cap this week goes to TOSU, and their plans to give the Navy Midshipmen a standing O when they enter the 'shoe. Class exemplified (unlike my ND rant above). Rutgers, take notes.

Oops....

"Temple: I Don't feel good about this one. Al Golden knows our program, which means he knows how to exploit the weaknesses of the program. Namely, that our MLBs tend to have weak knees. Sean Lee, watch your ass." (see below).

Note that it was ILB, not MLB. But yeah, no more negative predictions.

PSU's Tough Schedule

There has been much harrumphing around the blognets regarding PSU's seemingly saccharine-fueled OOC schedule (e.g. click nyaw, nyaw, or nyaw). Bosh and bunk, says I. PSU has one of the most grueling OOC schedules I have ever witnessed. Let's take a look:

Akron
For the opening game of the season, we get to play these guys. Awesome. I don't know what the hell a "Zip" is, and the thought of playing more than one "Zip" does not sit well with me.

That, and "Zip" is traditionally a verb. It can also be an onomatopoeia, but never a noun. THESE PEOPLE CAN CHANGE SYNTAX AT WILL.

Worse yet, it's at home.

So who likes letting unknown grammar freaks into their home to start the season? Nobody, that's who.

Syracuse
Pure nightmare fuel-
It looks like the whammy ate too many carrots. And is pointing at me. Let's move on.

Temple
Don't feel good about this one. Al Golden knows our program, which means he knows how to exploit the weaknesses of the program. Namely, that our MLBs tend to have weak knees. Sean Lee, watch your ass.

Eastern Illinois
Of all the matchups, this one gives me the most frequent and intense night-terrors. Put simply, nobody has any film on these guys. Which means no scouting and lack of preparation. Look what happens in major league baseball when the opposition has no read on the starting pitcher. Many a time the game ends up in favor of the unknown.

In Eastern Illinois' case, there is more than one pitcher, which exponentially increases the variables that can lead to mind-altering upsets.

We really just have to play our game, and hope for the best. Gulp.

Recap
So PSU has lost its secondary, restructured its starting OL, is breaking in a new FB, and lost the immortal starting WRs that led it to prominence. Compile that with having to deal with an incredible amount of erratic teams, half of which we know nothing about, and there is a possibility we could lose some starters due to injury.

I'll be happy to come away from the OOC opponents with two victories and a semi-healthy team.

So go ahead, you Virginia Techs and Ohio State's of the world. Schedule the traditional "contenders", and "teams with actual talent". I will take them any day over what PSU is going to put us through in those 4 weekends.

New Poll Up

Look right. I SAID LOOK RIGHT.